Farm Family Players offer cozy, country sounds in 'Thanks!' concert

SALEM -- Seven years ago, in an effort to simplify their lives, composer, pianist and musical software designer Geoffrey Gee and Kimerer LaMothe, a philosopher and dancer who taught at Brown and Harvard Universities, gathered up their family of four children and moved from suburban Boston to a farmhouse in the hills of Hebron.

There was no kicking and screaming involved with their offspring: in fact, their daughter Jessica, then 8 years old, had found the real estate listing online and accurately determined that the very property would be the perfect place to ride her future horses.

On Thanksgiving Saturday, Nov. 24, the family, billing themselves as The Farm Family Players, with the addition of 3-year-old Leif, celebrate a collection of milestones in their collective and respective lives in the Cabaret at Fort Salem Theater, performing an evening titled "Thanks! A Performance of Gratitude."

Advertisement

In many senses of the word, Kimerer and Geoff have been instrumental presences in the new Fort Salem Theater, playing and dancing in the third show of the Fort's inaugural cabaret season in 2007.

That December, the six members of the family portrayed the Crachit Family in a world premiere of Jeremy Blachman and Jay Kerr's musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol."

The following year, three of the children joined their parents in a musical evening in the cabaret.

In 2009, subsequent to other performances in the cabaret, Kimerer and Geoffrey marked the imminent arrival of young Leif, producing an evening of dance called "Genesis," which, according to their Vital Arts Media website, was "choreographed for and performed by Kimerer's pregnant body," an evening that also included a solo set of Geoffrey's original piano music.

In addition to producing a new child in Hebron, Kimerer has authored philosophical tomes, including "What the Body Knows" and "Family Planting."

Gee has created several versions of the musical soundware, "Plectrum," a collection of sounds used in the instrumental scores of several major motion pictures.

He currently teaches instrumental music in Dorset, Vt., at The Long Trail School and is pianist and organist for the South Granville Congregational Church.

In "Thanks!," the entire family gets into the act. Jordan (17), Jessica (15), Kyra (11), Kai (7), and Leif (3), abandon the cows and chickens for a musical hour, expressing their gratitude for the parents' 20 years of married life and Jordan's successful brain surgery this summer.

As the Farm Family Players, Kimerer, Geoff and their five children offer a feast of performing arts, serving up a diverse menu including vocal harmonies, solo ballads, and instrumental music featuring piano, saxophone, and flute, all seasoned with a touch of dance.

The Cabaret at Fort Salem Theater presents The Farm Family Players at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24. Because seating is limited, reservations are encouraged.

More information is available at fortsalem|theater.com or by calling (518) 854-9200.